Anjunadeep Open Air London 2026

Few London venues compete with the Old Royal Naval College on a clear August afternoon. Wren’s domes behind the stage, the Thames behind the crowd and 2,500 people on the lawn between them. After last year’s sold-out edition, tickets for the return went weeks before the weekend.

Maty Owl opened at 2pm to a site still filling up, and Catching Flies followed with the warmer, more organic end of the label’s catalogue while people claimed their patches of grass and worked through the food stalls.

The highlight came early. Label boss James Grant and Jody Wisternoff took the 4:20pm slot and delivered, as they tend to. Two decades of Anjunadeep Editions mixes have made them masters of days like this, and their b2b was my set of the summer. The peak was the mash-up of Lane 8’s remix of ‘Diamonds’ with deadmau5’s ‘Not Exactly’, a track I hadn’t heard in years. Older heads across the lawn turned to each other and grinned.

Speaking of older heads: Anjunadeep crowds have a reputation as the friendliest in dance music, and Greenwich backed it up. My favourite sighting was a man in a T-shirt reading “Trance Dad: like a normal dad, but cool”. I couldn’t judge. I was there with my pregnant wife, which makes this our baby’s first rave. That we felt comfortable bringing the bump says plenty about the day: room to move even near the front, strangers offering suncream and space in the shade, no aggro anywhere. If you’ve ever wanted to take someone to their first dance music event, this is the one to pick.

Romain Garcia’s live set carried the early evening, his melodies built one layer at a time rather than mixed off a USB, and it gave the day its most emotional stretch. Dosem b2b HANA toughened things up after 7pm with techno-leaning selections that suited the fading light, and Eli & Fur brought the vocal-led melancholy they’ve made their signature through dusk, the right sound for the last of the light.

Closing fell to Ezequiel Arias b2b Marsh. With the river behind them and the college lit up in front, Marsh looked at home, and the pair kept the floor moving until the 11pm curfew, which came too soon.

One gripe, and it’s familiar for single-stage day festivals: with no second arena to wander to, the programming has to carry you. Here it did. Each act handed over to the next at the right moment, and the sound stayed crisp at the back of the site.

Anjunadeep still flies under the radar. When I told friends where I was headed, more than one asked “who?” The fans who do know are devoted and some of the loveliest people in electronic music.